Your weekly summary from the Council

 LATEST ANALYSIS 

• Texas’ Order to Pull Over Vehicles Carrying Migrants Likely Violates the Constitution, Judge Rules
  
  A federal judge on Tuesday dealt an important blow to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s flawed plan to stop migrants from entering and traveling through Texas. Read More »
   
• Reconciliation and Immigration: What You Need to Know
  
  On the day that President Biden took office, he promised to send a bill to Congress to create a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Unfortunately, that bill has stalled. There remains one possible way for President Biden to deliver on one of his biggest immigration promises: the budget reconciliation process. Read More »
   
• The New CBP One App May Put Immigrants and Travelers’ Privacy at Risk
  
  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched a new mobile application to help process individuals entering the United States. But the new CBP app toes the line between productivity and the need for users’ privacy. Read More »

 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW  

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made claims this week that the Biden administration’s border policies—and the increase of migrant arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border— are responsible for the current spread of COVID-19 and the growing infection rate in the United States. The governor’s claim is misleading about the rise of migrant encounters at the southern border and how migrants are released from federal custody.
  
  This fact sheet from the American Immigration Council provides an overview and analysis of border encounters and apprehensions in 2021 and explains the enforcement policies at play at the U.S.-Mexico border.
  
  Read more: Rising Border Encounters in 2021: An Overview and Analysis

 MAKE A CONTRIBUTION 

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 ACROSS THE NATION 

Wendy Feliz, founding director of the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council, and American Immigration Lawyers Association President Allen Orr discussed in the latest episode of AILA’s Connection Point how to depolarize the debate around immigration issues. The pair shared helpful tips for having more effective conversations and explained how deeply we hold our immigration stances may matter as much as what our stances are.

The American Immigration Council is spearheading groundbreaking work that seeks to shift the narrative on immigration and create a more cohesive and connected America for all. A report by the American Immigration Council’s Center for Inclusion and Belonging and Over Zero digs deeper into American attitudes on immigration. 

Read more: What Immigration Issues Do Americans Hold Sacred?

 QUOTE OF THE WEEK 

“[The announcement that CBP will require border agents to wear body cameras] is a welcome development that could help increase transparency, oversight, and accountability of the agency’s enforcement activities and lead to a reduction in use of force incidents.

“...Congress will have to vigorously exercise its constitutional oversight authority to ensure that affected parties and the public have a meaningful opportunity to access recordings while ensuring that sensitive information is not released unnecessarily.”

– Jorge Loweree, policy director at the American Immigration Council

 FURTHER READING 

• The Washington Post: Why we can be confident that the surge in coronavirus cases isn’t the fault of immigrants
   

• POLITICO: Biden’s vision for the border has gone bust. But what’s Plan B?
   

• The Hill: Biden's embrace of Trump-era border policy frustrates Democrats 
   

• NPR: Deaths At The Arizona-Mexico Border Are On Pace To Be Highest Ever Recorded

         

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